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F.A.Q.

What is Investment Treaty News (ITN)?

ITN is a free electronic news service delivered by e-mail, and available on the Web. Currently it reaches more than 1,850+ direct subscribers, as well as many more readers online.

What does ITN cover?

The service provides in-depth, specialized reporting on the international treaties that govern investment flows from one country to another.

ITN updates its readers about the negotiation of new international investment treaties, as well as arbitrations brought by investors under the terms of such treaties.

What is INVEST-SD?

It is shorthand for Investment and Sustainable Development. An earlier incarnation of this newsletter was known as the INVEST-SD News Bulletin (and later the Investment Law and Policy News Bulletin). We adopted the Investment Treaty News name in autumn of 2005.

Why are investment treaties and investment arbitration of public interest?

Unlike the World Trade Organization (WTO) which consolidates multiple trade agreements and a dispute settlement system under one roof, the global rules governing investment activity are highly-dispersed and, as a consequence, under-scrutinized. Thousands of bilateral investment treaties have been signed between countries in an effort to protect investment moving between the two signatory countries. Often, these treaties provide for international arbitration as a method for resolving disputes between an investor and its host state. Beginning in the late 1990s, investor lawsuits under bilateral treaties and free-trade agreements (such as the North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA) grabbed headlines as companies invoked their international treaty rights in an effort to challenge actions taken by their host governments.

However, many of these cases proceed without much publicity at all. Investment Treaty News was created to track and report on this legal universe.

Investment treaty lawsuits cases may have been launched by businesses following egregious abuse or mistreatment at the hands of their host governments; in other cases, however, investors have taken more controversial steps to challenge health, environmental, human rights or tax measures. The ensuing international arbitrations are rarely reported in the mainstream media, but may harbour serious implications for government finances and policy-making.

Is ITN an advocacy vehicle?

No. IISD is not an advocacy organization. As part of its research work, the Institute does champion those policy options which support sustainable development—including in the area of international investment governance. However, ITN is removed from such policy work, and its editorial line is set independently. The neutrality of the ITN service can be seen in the quality of its reporting, and in the fact that it has a wide and diverse readership, including numerous subscribers in the business, legal, governmental and civil society communities. ITN is a public service: bringing greater transparency to an increasingly important area of international relations and international law. News stories from ITN are routinely cited by academics and policy analysts, and serve as a useful building block for teaching, research, policy-making and campaigning.